!

"Virginia, barren be thy teeming soil,
Or may the swallowing earthquake gulf thy fields!
Fribourg and Pontet! cease your trading toil,
Or bankruptcy be all the fruit it yields!

"And artists! frame no more in tin or gold,
Horn, paper, silver, coal or skin, the chest,
Foredoomed in small circumference to hold
The titillating treasures of the West!"

The fellows of Merton seem to have discovered some hidden efficacy in
snuff.

"Who doth not know what logic lies concealed,
Where diving finger meets with diving thumb?
Who hath not seen the opponent fly the field,
Unhurt by argument, by snuff struck dumb?

"The box drawn forth from its profoundest bed,
The slow-repeated tap, with frowning brows.
The brandished pinch, the fingers widely spread,
The arm tossed round, returning to the nose.

"Who can withstand a battery so strong?
Wit, reason, learning, what are ye to these?
Or who would toil through folios thick and long,
When wisdom may be purchased with a sneeze?

"Shall I, then, climb where Alps on Alps arise?
No; snuff and science are to me a dream,
But hold my soul! for that way madness lies,
Love's in the scale, tobacco kicks the beam."

CHAPTER V.

Spectator--The Rebus--Injurious Wit--The Everlasting Club--The Lovers'
Club--Castles in the Air--The Guardian--Contributions by Pope--"The
Agreeable Companion"--The Wonderful Magazine--Joe Miller--Pivot
Humour.

When "The Tatler" had completed two hundred and seventy-one numbers, it
occurred to the fertile mind of Steele that it might be modified with
advantage. For the future it should be a daily paper, and only contain
an essay upon one subject. In making this alteration he thought it would
be better to give the periodical a title of more important
signification, and accordingly called it the "Spectator." But the most
important difference was that Addison was to contribute a much larger
portion of the material. This gave more solidity to the work.

Addison never obtained a questionable success by descending too low in
coarse language. His style has been recommended as a model, for he is
lively and interesting without approaching dangerous ground. As we read
his pleasant pages we can almost agree with Lord Chesterfield
that:--"True wit never raised a laugh since the world was," but here and
there we find a passage that shows us the grave censor was mistaken.
Speaking of the "absurdities